Chicago Churches Pray For New Pope

"Right now if you're a priest in most parts of the world, and you have been known by your bishop to have raped or sexually assaulted a child, you get to remain in the priesthood and in most of these cases you're remaining in ministry working with children and families," Isely said.

Isely stated that the majority of priests within the church are working on behalf of children, but there is still a need to "turn a new page" and set rules for those who aren’t.

The group is also calling on Chicago’s Cardinal Francis George to aid them in setting up a meeting with the pope.

"There has probably been more progress in 15 years than there has been in 15 centuries," Isely said.

Group members said they're encouraged by the pope’s choice of "Francis" as his namesake because St. Francis was one of the greatest reformers in church history and stood for justice.